The Institute for Access to Public Information - IAIP

National Institute for Transparency, Access to Information and Personal Data Protection - INAI

The Institute for Access to Public Information – IAIP

El SalvadorCreation date : 2013Number of employees : 51

The IAIP contributes to democracy and human development, making it easier for the population to know and exercise the right of access to public information and the protection of personal data. Our mission is to guarantee the exercise of the right of access to public information and the protection of personal data with independence, quality and innovation, and inter-institutional coordination. Our Institutional values are: Integrity, Probity, Reliability, Equity and Responsibility.

Moreover, the access to public information is an important tool that contributes for the successful prosecution of corruption cases. For instance, The IAIP ruled in 2015 that the Supreme Court’s Probity Unit should make public the patrimonial wealth statements of public functionaries and its audits of those statements, to determine suspicions of illicit enrichment. This compelled the courts to restart previously stalled audits, resulting in a series of suspected illicit enrichment cases flowing into the judicial system. The establishment of the IAIP led to significant cases of financial malfeasance being revealed, which catalyzed several high-profile anticorruption actions.

Carlos Adolfo Ortega UmanaPresident and Legal Representative from the Institute of Access to Public Information

“There is no doubt that making the work of public institutions visible, makes it possible to assess the level of responsibility that the officials perform in their duties, and how decisions can result in benefits or failures for a population that demands more and more transparency, more access to information, more spaces for participation and, of course, fewer locks to the information managed in all State institutions, thus breaking the opacity and secrecy that lead to corruption, as usual practice in public management, which is an endemic problem that affects the interests of the majorities, and a delay in the progress of economic growth and in the state democratic system.

Therefore, moving from a culture of opacity to a culture of transparency is possible, especially when you have active citizenship which exercises the right of access to information, and is determined not to allow an involution in the matter of transparency, access to public information, protection of personal data and document file management.”